Uncharacteristic defensive errors and lapses from Tipperary set Kilkenny on their way to their first points of this senior league campaign with victory at the Ragg on Sunday. With Tipp starting without eight of last year's panel, this was always goin
g to be a difficult task, but full marks to the home side for putting in a strong performance and midway through the second half it looked if Tipp could pull off a shock.
Claire Grogan opened Tipp's account with two points before Kilkenny's Aoife Neary and Michele Quilty pounced to score 2.1 between them. With 15 minutes gone, Kilkenny's Elaine Aylward was dominating centre field.
However, Tipp weathered the storm and some solid performances from all over the field gave the home side four unanswered points to bring them within a single point at the break. An inspirational point from Jill Horan just before the break ensured Tipp went in full of confidence.
Within a minute of the restart Claire Grogan pointed three placed balls and Geraldine Kinnane added a point to them three points clear at the 12 minute mark.
Against the run of play, Aoife Neary superbly struck for two more goals, followed by Marie Dargon raising another green flag for Kilkenny. One more point from Claire Grogan was the final flag for Tipperary, while Kilkenny continued to pull away with some well taken points.
Despite lady luck not shining on Tipp, there were some good performances. Jill Horan shone as did Geraldine Kinnane, while sisters Michelle and Therese Shortt worked hard in defence. Mairead Luttrell, when switched to centre back also worked hard. Claire Grogan was on target from placed balls before she had to retire with a hand injury.
Trying to take the positives from the game, manager Eoin Brislane felt the final score didn't truly reflect the performance from his charges.
While Kilkenny deserved their win, he felt that Tipperary dominated the game from the 15th minute in the first half, right through to the 15th minute in the second and hitting eight unanswered points in this period says a lot about the character this Tipp team has.
And with more of the regulars coming back from injuries and the performances from some of the younger players, he and his management are confident they can bounce back and hopefully still feature in the latter stages of the competition.
